A YEAR-LONG TRIAL (AND ERROR!) OF HOW I'M TAKING ON "GIVING BACK"

~April 2013~ Kids Food Basket

What do you think of when you hear “childhood hunger”? What images come to mind??

Maybe something like this:

A child far away in a third world country, drinking river water and devouring whatever food scraps she can come across?

Or how about something like this:

The child of a homeless parent, dirty and disheveled, gobbling down food given from a soup kitchen?

How shocked would you be if it was a child that looked more like….this:

Clean face, combed hair, big smile. THIS couldn’t be the face of childhood hunger, could it?!?

It could be. It could be your child or your niece or nephew or your neighbor kid or a student in the classroom when you’re doing lunch duty. It could be a patient you wait on, a kid whose hair you cut, someone you drive in carpool. Hunger is not partial to gender or race or social class. It can strike students at public schools, private schools, charter schools and home schools. It sends MILLIONS of children to bed nightly with hunger pains 😦

I have no doubt in my mind that you have experienced hunger pains before. You know the ones. Your tummy is completely empty, not a drop of food in there to spare. And it feels like someone reached in and grabbed hold of your intestines and twisted them into a pretzel knot and THEN punched you. You get a headache. You get really irritated. HUNGER. You can do something about it usually, right? You can grab a snack from a vending machine, or out of your cupboards. You can pull over at Arby’s. You can throw together a bunch of things from your refrigerator and make an appetizer that Paula Dean would be proud of, right?!? Right!

(Unless you “cook” like I do…then that whole Paula Dean part is just a fantasy)

AND if you’re a parent, especially one living in the United States of America, you have the power to ensure that your children will always be fed and will never have to experience this, right?!?! MAYBE. But maybe not.

“According to a report by the USDA in 2008, 16.7 million children in the United States are living in food insecure households. Food insecurity refers to the lack of access to enough food to fully meet basic needs at all times due to lack of financial resources. Food security is a term used to describe what our nation should be seeking for all its people – assured access at all times to enough food for an active, healthy life, with no need for recourse to emergency food sources or other extraordinary coping behaviors to meet basic food needs.” {information provided by http://www.kidsfoodbasket.org}

Times are still tough, people. Times are tough for families that used to be financially independent and aren’t anymore. Times are tough for families that had it tough before, and now they are devastating. I personally live in a nice, middle class neighborhood where all of the residents take pride in their houses and care for their landscaping and clean up their dog crap. The parents hang out on each other’s porches and the kids run from backyard to backyard. We share juice boxes and popsicles and cracker packs with all of the kids running around and burning energy, but there is a little kid that lives on the opposite side of the street from me that asks neighbors for food all summer long. Not snacks either, but rather full fledged meals. When school isn’t in session and this child no longer receives breakfast and lunch in the cafeteria, and sack suppers to take home at the end of the day for dinner, there is a hunger issue. The child’s single mother works full time and pays her taxes and makes sure her child gets to all of her doctor visits and eye exams and dental appointments, but sometimes that doesn’t leave enough left over for groceries that week. We do what we can to help, but places likeKids Food Basket (<–click on it) do more.

WHAT IS KIDS FOOD BASKET, you ask? (You didn’t ask?? Well, you should have. And who cares, I’m gonna tell you anyway):

~~ “Kids’ Food Basket is the only organization in greater Grand Rapids dedicated to attacking childhood hunger. We currently provide Sack Suppers to nearly 5,000 kids every day during the school year, plus hundreds more at local sites in the summer. The schools we serve have a student population in which 80% or more of students live at or near the poverty level. Even with this requirement, we currently serve 38 sites, and there is consistent demand for our services. We have a number of schools on our waiting list at any given time.”

~~ “Sack Suppers mean that lunch does not have to be a child’s last meal of the day. They are an evening meal distributed at school and taken home. With over 1,000 calories and five food groups, each Sack Supper provides nutrition that’s critical to the development of healthy bodies and strong minds. Sack Suppers are a critical victory in the attack on childhood hunger. School officials provide Kids’ Food Basket with the number of children at their site that they know are living in food insecure households. Often, children self-report that they have not eaten since yesterday at school. In addition, teachers, nurses and social workers recognize the signs of poor nutrition, which include listlessness, low energy, below normal growth, pale complexion, circles under their eyes and poor concentration.”

~~ “Kids’ Food Basket does not receive any funds from the Federal, State, County or City Governments. We receive monies through grants from local foundations, local businesses, individuals and community organizations. Kids’ Food Basket has a small paid staff, including executive director Bridget Clark Whitney, who has been with the organization since its inception in 2002. In addition to our staff, Kids’ Food Basket is guided by an active and amazing founder, Mary K. Hoodhood, and a supportive board. Every day, over 175 volunteers join us at Kids’ Food Basket headquarters to pack and deliver Sack Suppers — it is truly a community effort!”
**all facts taken from the Kids Food Basket web site**

Back when I was in the planning stages of My Sudden Attack of Conscience, I asked my friends and family and Facebook followers what some of their favorite charities were. Kids Food Basket was my number one reply. I am curious to know how many other cities have something in place like this?? I can’t wait to do Good Things for this one. I had only heard of KFB before, but when I started researching it I knew it was special. It is NEVER a child’s fault that there is no money for food. A child should NEVER have to wake up or make it through the day or go to bed hungry. This organization is trying to make sure that they don’t, and I totally love that. If you have an extra ten dollars in your account this minute, this week or this month, P*L*E*A*S*E consider visiting http://www.kidsfoodbasket.org/donate/donate-online and clicking the red DONATE ONLINE tab. I will be sending my $10, as well as volunteering to pack Sack Suppers AND deliver them to the schools. I will also be collecting 100% Fruit Juice Boxes!! Kids Food Basket uses over 100,000 juice boxes a year MONTH! My daughter’s class (and maybe even her whole school, if I can swing it) will be decorating 8lb. paper sacks to deliver the Sack Suppers in. This month should be FULL of great experiences ~ won’t you dig in with me? 🙂

Sluuuuuuuurp!

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2 thoughts on “~April 2013~ Kids Food Basket”

I am so excited for you, Elizabeth! And so very proud to call you my friend! This particular topic is very close to my heart. It’s amazing how many sweet kiddos go hungry. And people wouldn’t guess it unless they actually pay attention to them! It should be made known the signs of malnutrition… the tiredness, the circles under eyes, lack of concentration, irritated easily, etc…! It’s not the “skin and bones” visual that so many people assume. I will for sure be donating this month… and also buying some yummy juice boxes for those kiddos to slurp down with a smile! 🙂 Thanks for all you’re doing, Skiddlidledanders!!!! 🙂 xoxoxox
Heather

I share my house with the husband (commonly referred to as Babydaddy) and two small boys (the penis people). Living with penis people is really messy and really loud.ferred to herein as The Dick or the H